The Purchase Process

How We Can Help

When you buy a new Linden home, you are buying a home constructed to a high quality and high
specification. We aim to match these aspects by the service we offer throughout the purchase process
and after legal completion.

Reserving your new home

We believe the procedures we have put in place will be convenient to you and give the
best opportunity for the purchase process to run smoothly.

The construction of your new home takes place outdoors in the wind and rain,
consequently our construction programmes may be adversely affected.

For the above reason, usually at the time when you reserve your new home, we will
give you an anticipated legal completion date. This may simply be expressed as a
quarter, for example "Winter" or "Spring". Please be aware this is our best estimate
at the time and may be subject to change.

You will be kept informed of progress on a regular basis and your Sales Executive
will update you as to how the purchase is proceeding, how the construction is going
and, of course, answer any queries or address any concerns you may have.

For houses, we generally have a much clearer idea of the completion date once the
roof is finished and for apartments, once your particular apartment is dry lined or
plastered. However, these dates remain as a guide and do not become firm until we
serve the legal notice.

Once your new home is physically complete, legal notice is served. This has to be
done through our solicitor to your solicitor in accordance with the contract. We
will of course let you know directly as well.

The period of notice is as set out in the contract and is usually 10 days.

You will be invited to a Pre-Handover Demonstration with a member of our team. At
this time we will demonstrate the heating system and other functions and facilities
to you. The timings of the heating and hot water can be set to your request so it is
ready for when you move in. It is possible that external areas and some of the
common parts in apartments, will not be fully completed, but you can rest assured
they will be safe and secure.

On the day of legal completion, your solicitor will arrange for the transfer of the
balance of the purchase monies to our solicitor. Once receipt has been confirmed,
your new home will be handed over to you by a member of our team who will again run
through the working of the heating system and any appliances if you wish to do so at
that time.

We recognise that with everything happening on your moving in day, you may not be at
your most attentive. There will be a further opportunity to have the heating system
explained two or three days after occupation. On handover we will ask you to confirm
that sanitaryware, kitchen units and appliances, wall tiling, doors and any floor
coverings are in good order. This is to avoid any argument later should any damage
occur during your removals. However at no stage do we ask or expect you to do a
detailed examination of your new home as our procedures will take care of that.

Whilst we definitely aim to get everything right first time, we do rely on a
multitude of suppliers and subcontractors and we do not pretend to be perfect.
(Please remember we are not able to build in factory conditions). After living in
your home for a few days, you may notice minor defects which had not previously been
spotted by our own inspection. If you let our Customer Services Team know about
these we will aim to deal with them within fourteen days of notification. This is
subject to availability of materials and to you being able to give us access.

If something requires urgent attention, please contact any member of our Customer
Services Team, or if outside office working hours, the emergency service provider
whose details are specific to your development and will be supplied to you.

A structural defect is extremely unlikely to occur, but if it were to during the
first ten years from completion, this will be covered by the NHBC Warranty (Please
note that in certain situations we use Zurich rather than NHBC. In such cases you
will be given separate information and further references to NHBC will not apply to
you).

Once any initial defects have been attended to, all future correspondence should be
sent to our Customer Services Team

After reservation

Having now reserved your new Linden home, you will have paid a reservation fee, and been
given a due date for exchange of contracts, usually 28 days from your reservation date.
In order to meet this date, you will need to do the following:

Instruct your solicitors and, if you are selling a property, tell them where your
deeds are, giving them details of any loans secured against it. Your solicitor may
require you to pay some costs immediately such as search fees so please be sure to
ask.

Survey fee should be paid

We can provide you with details of solicitors who have previously acted on a Linden Homes
development, who will be familiar with the documentation which may help the process run
more smoothly. You will be invited to attend a Post Reservation Meeting 7-10 days after
reserving your new home, this meeting will be an important part of your journey as it is
an opportunity for us to fully explain the buying process and give you detailed
information about your new home and the development including:

Give you a copy of your 'Welcome folder', and explain our customer service policy

Fully explain your buying journey and the meetings you will need to attend

If appropriate, the opportunity to meet your Site Manager

We will ask you to provide details of the following to enable us to progress with your
purchase:

Your solicitor's details, if you have one.

Details of the estate agents who are selling your present home.

As we will be liaising with all the above, it is important you notify them of the
exchange of contracts deadline so everyone is aware of the timescales involved. Your
Sales Executive will of course be on hand at all times to provide any assistance.

Although your solicitor will receive this information formally by way of an Information
Sheet, we would like to confirm the following before Exchange of Contracts:

Search - our solicitor will apply for the local authority search and forward it to
your solicitor.

The Transfer Document contains important information which your solicitors must make
you aware of.

On Exchange of Contracts, we will require a deposit, this is usually 10% of the
purchase price.

Unless your new home is already built and finished, we will not be able to give a
fixed completion date on exchange of contracts.

We will instruct our solicitor to serve the legal notice when your new home is
ready

Legal Covenants

Summary of legal covenants and restrictions

In the transfer of each new Linden home, a number of common sense stipulations and
obligations (i.e. covenants) are in place. These covenants are simply to ensure our
customers do not undertake to do anything unreasonable to their new homes which may
cause a nuisance to their neighbours.

Covenants may vary slightly from development to development to take into account any
special needs for a particular location, but generally, the types of covenants are:

Within five years of your purchase, the plan and specifications for any alterations
must first be submitted to Linden Homes for approval, for which a reasonable fee
will be charged.

Your home must be used as a single private family residence i.e. not for business
purposes. (This would not prevent an individual from undertaking an administrative
job from home, provided it did not generate additional traffic).

Not to do anything which may be a nuisance or a disturbance to adjoining owners.

Not to erect boundary walls and fences on the boundaries of the property other than
on the boundaries indicated by 'T' marks on the plan attached to the transfer
document.

To maintain the garden and to lay out the rear garden.

Not to keep any animals other than usual domestic pets.

To contribute to the cost of maintaining private services shared with other
customers.

Not to park, or allow to be parked, on any part of the property, any trailer, horse
box, boat, caravan or any house on wheels, motor caravans or lorries or vans
exceeding a carrying capacity of 250kg.

Not to erect any external aerials and not to erect or allow to be erected or
installed on any part of the property, a satellite dish without the prior written
consent of Linden

Not to plant any trees or deep rooting plants within 1.5 metres either side of the
route of any service supply pipes or wires.

Not to erect any 'For Sale' or 'To Let' signs on the property until Linden have
completed their sales on the development.

Where the side wall of any adjoining property forms the boundary to your garden, not
to erect any trellis or construct a rockery against that wall or to incinerate
rubbish against the wall.

Not to obstruct the estate road or any shared driveways.

Not to obstruct any sight line area which may be within the property.

Not to remove the Linden plaque, if any, which may be set in the elevation of the
property.

Although the above are standard restrictive covenants used on all Linden developments
there may be additional ones specific to individual developments. A full list of the
relevant covenants for your development will be included within the contract. Please
refer to your Sales Executive who will be able to assist.

Post reservation meeting

Following the reservation of your new home, or within the first
two weeks thereafter, your Sales Executive will meet with you to talk you through and
explain the following details:

The terms of sale including agreed selling price.

Details relating to your new home including land, location, site layout, demarcation
and boundary details and any communal areas or common parts.

Approximate room sizes.

Details of fixtures & fittings to be included.

Details of heating system and position of radiators.

Kitchen and bathroom layouts.

Summary of external works and materials.

Details of items which may not be finished before you complete on the purchase, such
as road surfacing, landscaping, communal areas, common parts and the availability of
your garage or parking space at the time of legal completion.

Details of any planning conditions and covenants, together with an explanation in
layman's terms, if required.

At the end of this meeting you will be asked to sign a Post-Reservation Checklist
confirming you have all the information you need.

We would like to suggest approximately two hours is allowed for this meeting.

After exchange

After exchange of contracts, your solicitor will explain the
Transfer document to you and will invite you to sign it.

Your solicitor should already have made you aware of its contents with particular
emphasis on the covenants. It is then returned to our solicitor for execution by
ourselves. Our solicitor then holds the Transfer document until the date is set for
legal completion.

Your solicitor will, at this stage, make final searches to obtain confirmation no matters
have been registered against our title, which could adversely affect your new Linden
home.

Following our solicitor serving the legal notice, you will be invited to the New Home
Demonstration referred to previously. We find customers tend to settle in more quickly
if we can undertake this demonstration a few days before you are due to move in.

On legal completion day we will meet you at the your new home and will read the meters
with you. Once we have received confirmation from our solicitor legal completion has
taken place we will handover your keys and ask you to sign a Handover form.

After legal completion, your solicitor will ensure any Stamp Duty is paid and register
ownership of your new home at HM Land Registry.

New home demonstration

After the legal notice has been served, we will arrange for a member of our team to meet
you at the your new home a few days before legal completion for what we call a New Home
Demonstration.

The purpose of this demonstration is to familiarise you with all the functions and
facilities of your new home and will cover the following:

Product information including instructions in the operation of the kitchen
appliances, heating and hot water systems

Guidance in appropriate cleaning methods

Servicing and maintenance

Explanation of Customer Service and emergency call-out procedures

On the day of legal completion we will again meet you for a brief walk-through
inspection. You will be asked to confirm the sanitaryware, kitchen units, windows, wall
tiling and any floor coverings are in good order and to sign a certificate to record
this. Please note we are not responsible for any damage caused by moving into or living
in your new home.

Legal completion and handover

We will ensure your new home is ready for you on legal completion day and that it is
clean.

If we have not been able to complete all of the external works owing to inclement weather
you can be assured of a clean and safe access which is lit.

In certain situations, where parking or garaging is remote from the property, this may
not be available on your completion day. If this is the case, you will have been
notified previously and we will provide you with a safe, accessible, temporary
arrangement, and advise you when the permanent access will be provided.

Our solicitor will provide your solicitor with notice of legal completion according to
the contract.

Legal completion takes place when the completion monies have been received by our
solicitor.

Please note we are unable to hand over the keys until our solicitor has confirmed the
completion monies have been received.